Living with OCD

Managing stress is an important part of living well with OCD. Deep breathing exercises offer a simple and effective stress management tool that can help

Holistic health includes more than what you see on the surface. Mental health and physical health are deeply intertwined. The well-being of one can

When you think about your relationship with food, you might have certain preferences or behaviors that lead you to wonder, “What’s really going on here?”

The short answer is: Yes. But stick with us because there’s a lot you should know about the connection between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and the

You could always spot Noelle Lepore in her high school cafeteria. She was the girl who wouldn't eat until all her prayers were done. She would have loved

Lately, there’s been some pretty controversial chatter on social media about whether people with OCD should choose a partner without mental health issues

We’re incredibly proud of the therapists in the NOCD network. While all of them are trained in delivering evidence-based treatment

You might assume Sam Temple has led an easy life. At 22 she was a young artist who'd just arrived in Los Angeles from her native Georgia. Now, four years

In my many years of working alongside people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), I know that they can be some of the most compassionate and

If you’re prone to worrying about your health, you’re not alone. Everyone experiences health anxieties from time to time. For many, these concerns are

I knew ERP worked, after all, it helped me so much in the past. I knew I just needed to put the difficult work in and keep forging ahead.

I always thought that if I didn’t feel like I wanted to do something, leave the house, or do something that I had maybe previously enjoyed doing, it was me making that choice. Now I can clearly decipher the difference between me wanting or not wanting to do something versus the OCD telling me I shouldn’t do something. I don’t need to let OCD run my life...

Seemingly overnight, these thoughts became more and more intense. I was consumed with guilt over them. It snowballed into experiencing unwanted thoughts about harming my family; the people that I loved the most in the world. I knew I had to tell my wife. I needed to seek help.

My family was surprised when they learned of my OCD diagnosis, I didn’t have the stereotypical signs of OCD. I didn’t wash my hands for countless hours, I wasn’t someone who was super organized. To look at me, you would not suspect all of the turmoil that went on in my mind. This is one of the most frustrating parts of this disorder, people do not often understand the mental compulsions. Many people just see the physical compulsions and don’t really understand the “why” behind the compulsions. I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as mental compulsions.

The uncertainty I’d spent my whole life running from now feels exciting and liberating. I don’t need to know “for sure” before I move my feet. I GET TO MAKE MISTAKES. And that’s horrible and amazing all at the same time.

Something that has helped me along the way is no matter the content of the intrusive thought/feeling, I will ask myself “and then what”....you see, the story must go on. Play it out. Play out the worst case scenario. And then what happens… it always comes back to I just don’t like how it feels, and we know that life will go on.

I don’t remember a life before my OCD showed up, as some of my earliest memories involve (what I now know are) obsessions and compulsions. I remember being early school-age and feeling different from everyone else around me.

My life was going great. I was an award-winning college quarterback with a bright future ahead of me. But then OCD came out of nowhere and derailed everything.